Homemade Wheat Noodles (without Egg)

Homemade egg-less wheat noodles made from scratch. This Chinese homemade noodles recipe is suitable for soups, as stir-fried noodles or boiled with toppings added to it. They are springy in texture and easy to prepare.

Category

Difficulty

Total Time

Yield

Ingredients

0.25 tsp

salt

1 tbsp

oil

300 g

wheat flour

140 ml

water

Background

In Asian cuisine, noodles are an essential ingredient. There are many types of wheat noodles which can be served cold, hot, with soups or even ‘dry’ (tossed in a separate sauce). The combination is simply endless. In this recipe, I have decided to prepare egg-less wheat noodles. However, eggs may be used to add richness to the flavour and a hint of colour, contributed by the egg yolk.

Rest dough before cutting

Egg-less wheat noodles do not require a lot of ingredients and can be easily made within a short period of time. I only left the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Viola! Roll out the dough and cut them into strips. Adding shallot oil definitely improved the taste and enhanced the aroma of the noodles but this is optional. Shallot oil may be substituted with other types of oil or simply omit it.

Similarity to udon noodles

Udon noodles are made similarly. Shallot oil however, is not added to the dough and the dough is left to rest for a much longer time, 4 hours or more! As the dough rests, gluten in the dough gets to strengthen. Kneading the dough thoroughly further strengthens the gluten. This provides more elasticity to the noodles. If you would like to chew into springy noodles, let the dough rest a little longer. You may also cut the dough into thicker slices to replicate the form of udon noodles.

Prevent noodles from sticking

As seen in the video, preparing the noodles is rather simple. There is one important tip which I want to share with you. Once the dough is flattened, dust flour generously to prevent the dough from sticking to each layer once it is folded. This would be really helpful when separating the noodles later.

Store homemade wheat noodles

To store the noodles, allow the separated noodles to rest for an hour before packing them. If this step is skipped, homemade wheat noodles may clumped together due to the moisture in the dough. It may be refrigerated for up to 2 days or kept frozen for up to 6 months.

How to cook wheat noodles

Wheat noodles should be cooked in boiling water. Salt is usually not required when it comes to most Asian recipes as the sauces or broths are already very flavourful. Although these homemade noodles are specially made for chili pan mee, try other suggested recipes using chicken soups or a mixture of sauces as shown in the wan tan noodles recipe.